sauce

[saws]

noun

1. any preparation, usually liquid or semiliquid, eaten as a gravy or as a relish accompanying food.

2. stewed fruit, often puréed and served as an accompaniment to meat, dessert, or other food.

   cranberry sauce.

3. something that adds piquance or zest.

4. Informal.,  sauciness; impertinence; impudence.

5. Slang.,  Usually the sauce hard liquor.

   He's on the sauce again.

6. Archaic.,  garden vegetables eaten with meat.

verb (used with object)

sauced, saucing 

1. to dress or prepare with sauce; season.

   meat well sauced.

2. to make a sauce of.

   Tomatoes must be sauced while ripe.

3. to give piquance or zest to.

4. to make agreeable or less harsh.

5. Informal.,  to speak impertinently or saucily to.

sauce

/ sɔːs /

noun

1. any liquid or semiliquid preparation eaten with food to enhance its flavour

2. anything that adds piquancy

3. stewed fruit

4. dialect,  vegetables eaten with meat

5. informal,  impudent language or behaviour

verb

1. to prepare (food) with sauce

2. to add zest to

3. to make agreeable or less severe

4. informal,  to be saucy to

Other Word Forms

• sauceless adjective
• oversauce verb (used with object)

Word History and Origins

Origin of sauce¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, from Middle French, from Late Latin salsa, noun use of feminine of Latin salsus “salted,” past participle of sallere “to salt,” derivative of sāl “salt”; salt ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of sauce¹

C14: via Old French from Latin salsus salted, from salīre to sprinkle with salt, from sal salt

Idioms and Phrases

• hit the bottle (sauce)

Example Sentences

There’s also crispy shrimp, which is a stir-fried shrimp dish with sweet chili sauce.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Stack ladyfingers with whole-berry cranberry sauce, vanilla pudding, and whipped cream flecked with a decidedly ungodly amount of orange zest.

Read more on Salon

"If we better understand the underlying processes," says Luo, "we can cook tastier and more digestible dishes, so to speak, because then we'll know exactly which spices, in which amounts, make the sauce especially tasty."

Read more on Science Daily

Observers typically indulge in a hearty meal with staples such as turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce.

Read more on Barron's

I think people who don’t like cranberry sauce just haven’t had one worth their while yet.

Read more on Salon

Related Words

• dressing 
• flavoring 
• gravy 
• relish